Jessonda is a grand opera (Große Oper) by Louis Spohr, written in 1822. The German libretto was written by , based on Antoine-Marin Lemierre's 1770 play La veuve du Malabar ou L'Empire des coutumes. Spohr had been newly appointed Hofkapellmeister in Kassel. He had reservations about Weber's recently performed Der Freischütz, and sought a subject that was poetic and uncomplicated, avoiding, in his setting, any spoken dialogue. He was opposed to the use of speech on mundane subjects in an operatic context. Ballets and spectacle were provided in set pieces that might also attract ordinary theatre-goers, in a German form of grand opera.